At Last
by Chandra1
Summary: After Harry defeats Voldemort, he brings someone close to Snape back on Dumbledore's request. It's been nineteen years since they have seen each other, will it all be forgiven?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me, but Helena does! I fully credit (and respect in large ways) Mrs. JK Rowling for her brilliant imagination, allowing us to have her world to fantasize in. And thanks to Robyn and Lauren for doing super quick beta reads over AIM for me!

Chapter one

Lying in the cold room, she shuddered. She had spent the years here, locked in this cell, not knowing whether she was going to wake up the next morning, not that she cared. 

She lost hope years ago, forgetting even how long she had been here. When they took her- she was nineteen, that's all she remembered. They beat her, and raped her, starved her, punished her for things she didn't do. Although she hated the man who put her here, at the hands of Voldemort and his bloodthirsty men, there was a little part of her that still loved him, and always would.

She heard the footsteps of someone approaching down the hall. Possibly another Death Eater, wanting a little piece of revenge in any way possible, a outlet for a shot of emotion that ranged anywhere from violence to sex. Her body stiffened as the footsteps stopped in front of her door. Why they would touch her, she never knew- she was weak from hunger and disease, and the last time she had bathed she couldn't remember. They let her have a quick bath before meeting the Dark Lord himself, years and years ago, and then they threw her into this cell. Living on next to nothing, she knew she might as well give up...no one would come for her.

The door opened, and the light blinded her vision, she forced her face deeper into the hay, filled with mess, the light was just too bright. 

Then she felt a touch on the back of her body, a light touch, a touch she hadn't felt in a long, long time. Trusting it with a feeling she did not know, she looked towards the body that was touching her. Not a man, cloaked in black, evil written in his Aura, but a boy- couldn't be more than 17, dark hair, dark glasses. And he said something foreign to her, she searched her memory to remember what it was, and he repeated it, over and over. 

"Helena Snape? Are you Helena Snape?", he asked over and over, and she suddenly remembered what he was saying. Her name. 

~*~

Harry didn't want to do this. He didn't want to rescue anything that belonged to Snape. Evil man, he was. But before Harry had left Dumbledore's office to go face-off Voldemort, the Headmaster pulled him aside from the rest of the people, Aurors, Professors, friends, and asked him in a way that he couldn't say no.

"Harry, there is one last thing I must ask of you, on the benefit of Professor Snape.", the Headmaster asked, blue eyes twinkling. Harry's face contorted into a face of dislike. "Harry, try for a moment to put your dislike for the man away for a moment. Voldemort has something that means more than anything to that man, whether he will admit it or not.".

"What is that, sir?", Harry asked.

"His wife, Helena. She was taken from him about a year after they were married, we don't know if she is still alive or not, but please- try and find her. For his sake.", Dumbledore almost begged. 

Harry let out a breath, "I'll try, sir. I'll try.".

"That's all I ask of you to do.", Dumbledore said. And when they walked back into the crowd, Harry saw a different side of Snape almost, anxious, scared, and somewhere down there…hopeful. 

Now he was there, looking down at the barely clothed, scrawny, filthy woman that probably used to be an attractive woman. She looked young, younger even in this mess, than Snape himself. Her hair black was dirty and messy, skin that was white was now covered in filth, and blue eyes turned up towards him. 

"Yes…", croaked a unused voice. "Yes, I'm Helena Snape…".

"Good, I'm going to take you to Hogwarts- do you know where that is?", the boy asked.

"Yes…"

"Alright, now you just relax, I'm going to apparate us back to Hogwarts, just, sit in my arms, like that.", Harry instructed as he picked up the weak girl. He himself was tired, bloody, and exhausted, nearly dead. Voldemort and his followers put up a fight for the masses, and even though there were Aurors, he wanted Harry. 

Using the last bit of his strength, Harry brought them both to the place where they called home. 

~*~

Snape stood in Dumbledore's office. He was told to wait there, told to wait…that's all he had been doing for the past seventeen years. He was a wreck, pacing back and forth; it was his entire fault, if she wasn't alive. His entire fault. 

"Severus, she'll be there, she'll be there…", McGonagall tried to comfort him, but he wasn't listening. This was the last hour. They had not heard from Harry since they had sent him away yesterday. Snape looked at the clock…4:30 P.M…. the time was ticking away. 

The minutes passed, and no one said a word until Dumbledore walked into his office at a quarter pass five. Snape stopped his pacing, McGonagall stood expectantly, and the others in the room looked at the man whose blue eyes sparkled with joy with a hushed cloud of anxiousness. 

After a few seconds that felt like hours, Dumbledore's face smiled to them all. "Voldemort has been defeated! He is defeated!", the old man's voice rang through the office with youthful cheer, crying himself, he watched as the entire room took a minute to let the information sink in, and then- as one, the room exploded in cheer. McGonagall fell onto her knees, sobbing in happiness, drinks were passed around, kisses and hugs were exchanged. 

Someone tried to shove a drink into Snape's hands, but he refused, and looked at Dumbledore with eyes that were both pleading and expectant. The older man walked to him, and looked at him with a crumbling blue glare, and smiled his biggest smile. 

"She's alive, Severus, she's alive. Harry returned with her.", Dumbledore said. 

And throughout Snape, a burst of emotion that he had not felt in the longest time flowed through him. Happiness, hope, love, and pain, all at once, filled his heart and he could no longer take it, shaking like a madman, he collapsed into Dumbledore's arms and sobbed. 

"Oh God! Oh God, she's alive…is she well? Oh God, tell me she's well!", Snape cried to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore took the man's hands into his own. "I will not lie to you, Severus. She's sickly, poor in health. Madam Pomfrey is having a time fixing her to good health. It may be weeks before you can see her again. She's changed, changed drastically from the last time you've seen her, she may not even remember you. You must prepare yourself for the worse…".

"Weeks?", questioned Snape, as McGonagall came over.

"It may be the best, Severus,", she said, "for both you and her.".

~*~

And the weeks passed. Helena got little by little a bit stronger each day. She had been moved into her own room, on top of a tower once she was strong enough to be on her own. It was a miracle, even Madam Pomfrey and the doctor's that were called from St. Mungos exclaimed. But here she was, alive…and halfway to being normal. 

Of course, she'd never be normal, never again. After spending nearly half her life in that cell, going through the things she had been through. No one escaped that the same way. 

She wanted to see Severus, wanted to see him, but not yet- neither one of them was strong enough she was told. Laying in her bed, she felt strange in the room, afraid someone was going to wake her up, tell her it was all a dream, and she'd be back in the cold cell, with Lord knows what happening to her. Her dreams were full of nightmares, the parties, and the abuse. The parties were the worse. Groups of Voldemort's followers, taking every male advantage over her and some of the other few women they somehow got their hands on. No one to turn to, she awoke screaming, and just huddled, huddled until sunrise, when the doctor's checked on her. 

Sitting on the windowsill, dressed in a plain robe, she ran her fingers through her short black hair. They couldn't get a comb through it, so they cut it. She remembered the days she was a teenager, with waist long, straight black hair, shiny and gorgeous. The girls envied her for her hair, her eyes, and her looks. She was never the smartest in the class, never the quickest. Why Severus ever loved her, she never knew. 

A knock on her door. She turned to answer it, and Professor McGonagall stepped in. 

"Hello, Helena, how are you feeling today?", she asked.

"Getting better day by day.", Helena replied, offering the woman a chair. McGonagall had been almost like a counselor to Helena through her recovery, she told the woman nearly everything, and throughout all the details she was willing to tell, McGonagall listened, listened without pity, listened without interruption. 

"That's wonderful, I must say, they were right, it is a medical marvel how you've turned around. Gaining a bit of weight…you look much better…Severus will be so happy…", McGonagall smiled to her. Helena had gained almost 20 pounds in the few weeks she had been there, with the aid of medication. Helena looked back at McGonagall.

"How is Severus doing?", she asked. She was mad with the man, angry at him, for making her stay in such a place for as long as she did, she couldn't understand why he had waited so long to attempt to rescue her. 

"He's still in a bit of a shock, but he wants to see you, Helena. He's angry with himself, for waiting. He loves you, he still loves you.", McGonagall told her. 

"I almost had a doubt that he did.", Helena said. "I wish to see him tomorrow-"

"-Helena…I don't think you are stro-"

"-I am strong enough to face my husband! Regardless of what may happen!", she yelled, turning to McGonagall, and then having to grab the wall for support because the room span. 

McGonagall hesitated. "Please?", begged Helena. 

"Fine, I'll arrange for you two to meet in the Headmaster's office tomorrow afternoon.", McGonagall finally said, and Helena let out a breath of air. 

"Thank you, Minerva, thank you.", she said, and McGonagall got up to leave. "Just, one thing…", Helena started.

"Yes?", McGonagall said before going out the door.

"Be there…in case I need you…".

"Of course,", McGonagall said, with a weak smile. "Now get some rest, you'll need it for tomorrow.". 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me, but Helena does! I fully credit (and respect in large ways) Mrs. JK Rowling for her brilliant imagination, allowing us to have her world to fantasize in. And thanks to Robyn and Lauren for doing super quick beta reads over AIM for me!

Chapter two

"Harry, mind if I speak with you for a moment?", Dumbledore asked as Harry had been walking down the hall to his next class. 

Stopping in front of Dumbledore, Harry looked up, "No, Sir. Not at all.".

"Follow me then.", Dumbledore ordered, and they made their way to Dumbledore's office. When arriving, Dumbledore welcomed Harry to a chair and a drink, and made his way to behind his desk.

"You are probably wondering about Professor Snape and this new information you have been taught about him…", Dumbledore said, catching Harry's eyes. 

In truth, Harry had pondered this, not much on "Snape had a wife", but, more like, "Who would marry Snape?". He doubted very much the marriage wasn't arranged. 

"Yes, in ways.", he replied. 

"Well, Harry. Professor Snape is a complex man, he has been through so many terrible things in his life, and this is just one of them.", Dumbledore started. Harry just sat back, nodding his head. "Back when I first appointed Severus as the Potions teacher years ago, he had a student in his third year by the name of Helena…", Harry just nodded, hoping that Snape didn't have sexual relations with a third year. "Helena wasn't a very…_bright_ pupil. And Severus was a brand new Professor, didn't know the ropes quite as well. When she continued getting terrible marks, she asked for some extra assistance.".

"Snape gave after class help?", asked Harry- stunned at this.

"Well, to only those whom he felt like needed it. And he figured that Miss Helena was in desperate need of it.", Dumbledore told him.

"Oh…continue, forgive my interruption.", Harry apologized. 

"Understandable. Back to where I was. Snape said that he would help her out, and he did. By the end of her Fourth year, Miss Helena was an excellent Potions pupil. A few years went by, and the two of them remained in the mutual student/teacher relationship. Towards the end of her Sixth year, she had made a complete transformation, physically and educationally. For one of Snape's lessons, she was caught into a rut, a terrible one- because he had decided to give the Sixth years a terribly hard lesson. I have reason to believe that he did in hopes she'd come back to him…"

"And she did…"

"Yes, Harry. Helena came back to Severus, asking for his help. Over time, they got closer to each other, and I believe that they started to fall in love with each other…"

Harry's face made an emotion in between shock and disgust. 

"Now, now, Harry. Severus and Helena were only about ten years apart, and as you know, in the Wizarding world, that is next to nothing…", Dumbledore informed him.

"Of course…", Harry said, not at all turned from the emotion that this was quite disturbing.

"Over the course of that Summer Vacation, they spent much time together. And I told Severus, I warned him about falling in love with a student. And he listened, he told her- not until you are no longer my student, then we can be together. But, of course, love conquers all- even rules- and they continued seeing each other. I only let them on Severus's strict word that she was as consenting as he was, and I made sure I knew both sides of the story. Personally, I let him because I had never seen him happier…", Dumbledore opened what looked like an Altoids can and put two of the mints in his mouth, and sucked on them thoughtfully. 

"Sure enough, after she left the school, they were married. Severus was…so happy. He had always been an outcast during his school years, and as an adult, his years with Voldemort made him inward. But, under all the walls he built up- there was a man that was intelligent, interested in everything, and willing to explore. Helena was beginning to be the same way, he had given her the gift of learning, and although she wasn't as smart as him, or even Miss Granger, she would listen to him, take in what he said, ask questions, and stand as this pillar of knowledge for both of them."

Harry sat there; stunned that the same Snape he had spent the last seven years with could be anything but cruel, evil, and just rude. 

"Then Voldemort somehow must have found out about Snape's decision to leave his side. Around a year later, the Death Eaters captured Helena, and we tried, we really did, to get her back. But, as each attempt failed, Severus started to lose all hope, started to fear the worse. I believe after a while he started to believe it, and learned it as true, as the years went by. The walls she had started to break were coming back up, and the man was at a loss of life. That's how he came to be the way he is today. I have a strong reason to believe that if she was not taken, you would have a drastically different Potions teacher today…", Dumbledore eyed Harry, and Harry just continued to look on in amazement. 

"Why did you tell me this?", Harry asked. "I doubt Professor Snape would want me to know.".

"That is true,", Dumbledore stated. "But I feel you have the right to know why I asked you to save someone for someone you do not care for. You already have a huge weight on you now, as the man who defeated the Dark Lord both when he was a baby and now, as a man. I felt as if it were my responsibly to tell you why I added more.".

Harry took a few minutes to let this sink in. And then he nodded. "Yes, sir. I'm thankful for it. How is she doing, by the way?".

"Very well. She has made a miracle recovery, and today they will meet each other for the first time in nearly twenty years. Lord help them both…", Dumbledore sighed. "That means you need to get to class, Helena should be arriving at any minute…", he noted, and Harry took his cue.

"Oh, alright. Thank you, Sir. I will talk to you later.", Harry stood and walked out. Opening to door, he ran into Helena and Professor McGonagall. Helena _did_ look healthier. Wearing a white robe, and her now short black hair pulled back, she smiled at him. Her eyes still had bags and rings around them, indicating she hadn't slept well, and she looked older than she actually was, which Harry guessed would be about thirty-five.

"Are you Harry Potter?", the woman asked. Harry shook his head 'yes'. And she hugged him, "Thank you, Harry. I owe endless debts to you…", she whispered, and then walked into the office. 

~*~

Snape nervously glanced in a reflective piece of metal on the wall, wrapping his hands around themselves; he waited until Dumbledore's office door would be opened. 

Nineteen years, he changed as much as she probably had. She would be what? Snape did some quick mental math, thirty-six. Nineteen years of worry and depression paid their price on his body, he no longer looked the youthful self of twenty-eight, when they married. Even then, he thought, he looked worried and stressed. What was he going to say to her? Dumbledore warned him. This would be like meeting a stranger. They did things to her…he didn't want to think about what they did with his wife. He frowned- probably the same things he did to the female prisoners when he was within their ranks. He shuttered at the thought. 

Would she still love him? Would she remember the good times they shared? It had only been a few years of good memories attached with them, surely nineteen years of being brutally raped in the name of "Severus Snape" would change her views on him. 

"Severus…", the voice of the Headmaster brought him back to reality, and he looked at the man, standing in the doorway- the last barrier. "You can come in now, she's on the Observatory."

~*~

Helena had walked in, and after greeting the Headmaster, she walked up to the Observatory, to look out on the grounds. Right now, emotions went through her faster than water. She still loved Severus; the thought about seeing him had gotten her halfway through the time she spent in Voldemort's servitude. She remembered the nights back when she was a student, sneaking to his room, where they talked and debated issues throughout the night. She remembered the look in his eyes the mornings they woke up together, the look on his face after they made love.

She smiled to herself with these thoughts- and then the thoughts of cell came to her. With them brought anger. Why hadn't he come for her? Why did he wait? Was he too scared? Did he want to keep his self alive while she rotted away in an unknown cell, victim to so many things, waiting for the unmarked grave that was just within reach? 

She frowned, how many nights had she wished to die, wished to just let it end? Those nights she hated him, hated him for running, and hated him for hiding. She knew, she knew while she laid there- getting abused, he was in his chambers, possibly with another woman, another girl, another student. 

"I want to see him, I want to see him now!", she called. 

~*~

He walked up to the Observatory, each step lasting a lifetime. His heart in his throat, he could just see her. He saw that her hair was cut, and that her frame was thinner, he saw her stuttering in the spot she stood, filled with a emotion, her couldn't see her face, so he could not tell what emotion ran through her body. 

Reaching the landing, he stayed back, and watched her from behind. He could feel the anxious tense atmosphere as McGonagall and Dumbledore waited, busying themselves with matters of the school so it would seem like they weren't eavesdropping. 

After what seemed like an hour, he finally had enough courage, the moment he dreamed about for years. "Helena…", he whispered. He watched as his wife's body stiffened, and waited for her to turn around. 

When she finally did, it was like meeting up with a stranger he had once known. Her face had grown older; her body weaker, a glazed look had been placed in her eyes; as if she lived in another world to escape the one she was trapped in. Gone was the vibrant, youthful, young woman he had once known, and here was reality, here were his sins, paid for through an innocent, and he was forced to stare them in the face. Her expression unreadable, they stared at each other for minutes, sizing each other up in their eyes. 

She was as shocked as he was. The man had grown older, worried, lines around his face indicated he looked much older than he was. His eyes were now blacker, meaner, and more distinct. She searched for the man she had once known so well, only to see him through thick walls, thicker than when she met him romantically for the first time years ago. 

"Helena…say something…anything…please…", he begged. Snape wasn't used to begging, but the way she stood before him scared him. 

"Severus…oh, God.", she breathed, and she watched as he let out a breath, he probably feared she was mute. "You…bloody…bastard…", she gritted through her teeth, and she watched him sharpen up, taking offense to the words she said to him. 

"You left me for dead…you left me for them to take!", she yelled, stronger than she attended. She didn't walk to him, didn't make a move to reach him, but stood her ground, and yelled. She watched the hurt and pain go through his face, as the feelings he feared were becoming a reality. 

"Why didn't you come and save me! Why didn't you!?! Did you fear you would lose your own life to save mine?! Why didn't you help me when I needed it the most!", she shook now as she yelled. "I need a cigarette…", she mumbled, and went to a table, pulling out a pack and lighting one. Inhaling deeply, she faced him again. 

" I was an enemy of Voldemort's! I wouldn't have made it past the gates! They would have killed me before I got the chance to even know if you were there!", Snape argued back. His hands in tight balls, and his expression hurt and abused. Didn't she know how many nights he tortured himself, in hopes of somehow matching the pain she must be going through? 

"An _enemy_? An _ENEMY_, Severus?", Helena flickered away the ashes on the end of the cigarette, she noticed in the corner of her eye McGonagall coming up the stairs quietly, in case needed, Helena laughed a shallow laugh in his face, "I was Voldemort's _slave_. I was at his call. I…", her face screwed up at memories, "I was…I was his _slave_, Severus!", Snape's face contorted into a painful expression as he knew, he knew what she had been through, "I have done things- I have done things to that…to that…THING, and to his followers! I have done things- that you can't even begin to mention in proper conversation!", her eyes flickered to McGonagall, who had a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry, "I have done so many things…to so many different men…and things that are not even _human_,", tears ran down her face as she shakily reached for another cigarette, "_that you only wished I ever did to you!!_", she yelled, and turned away from him, sobbing at the memories of the parties, and the abuse. 

"I know what they did to you! I know it! I did it to others! I did the same thing!", Snape yelled at her back, crying. "If I could, if I could- I would have rescued you, Helena! Helena- you have to understand! If I went to get you- not only would they have killed me- but also they would have killed you! Regardless if I proved to be loyal to Voldemort again!", he continued yelled. 

Helena spun back around, now sobbing openly and freely. "_Killed me!?_", she yelled, "I would have rather died then to live another day in there! Only by a miracle did that Harry Potter boy save me!", she sobbed, and Snape's face hardened. 

Without realizing it, he growled under his breath, "Will the Snapes always be in debt to the Potters?". He only realized what he said when he noticed McGonagall hiss and Helena stop crying, and his wife looking at him with hate. 

"Is that what it boils down to? Are you still focused on that incident in your past? You aren't happy to have me back?! Because that means you are now not only in debt to his father- but to him?!", she sobbed. 

"No…no…that's not it…", he went to put his arms around her- but she shoved him off. 

"_How dare you touch me!? After all you put me through?! Leave me alone!_", she yelled, and went over to McGonagall, sobbing. McGonagall looked at the distraught Helena, and the helpless Snape. Taking Helena in her arms, she shot daggers at Snape, as if to say: "How dare you say such a thing!?". He watched in silence as she led Helena down the stairs, and away from him again. 

Standing there quietly for minutes, he relived from the moment he stood on the landing, to the moment she walked away from him. And, soon, without knowing it, he collapsed to a mass on the floor, sobbing. 

"Severus…don't cry…it's a rough time for her…", he heard Dumbledore's voice beside him.

"She doesn't love me anymore…she doesn't understand…Ohhhh, Albus….", Snape cried. "How stupid could I be? How stupid? I should have saved her, why was I afraid? I don't deserve her…I should be dead instead of her alive and in this much pain…"

"Hush, boy.", Dumbledore scolded, and Snape quit almost immediately. Dumbledore crouched to his level on the ground. "Look at me,", and Snape's face lifted to meet up with his, staring in the all-knowing blue eyes, Severus heard him say, "Time, it's going to take time. She loves you, and you do deserve her. So much time has passed in between you two. But the love is still there…but it's going to take time for her to open up to you again. Give it time…Severus, give it time…".


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me, but Helena does! I fully credit (and respect in large ways) Mrs. JK Rowling for her brilliant imagination, allowing us to have her world to fantasize in. And thanks to Robyn and Lauren for doing super quick beta reads over AIM for me!

Chapter three

Weeks passed, every now and then, Helena would make a move towards speaking with Snape. Slowly, slowly was her progress. After nearly a month, the two could be in the same room without yelling, staring blankly at each other, or one of them breaking down and having to leave. 

Sitting on the side of the lake one day, looking out, talking about the events that transpired throughout the nineteen years. Helena made it a point to learn what Snape had been up to, and even though she was still quite angry with him, she was learning his trust and his love slowly. Snape was talking about Triwizard Tournament, about how Harry was chosen without anyone knowing why, how Cedric died. She noticed he talked a lot about Harry. 

"Hush, Severus…just for a moment…", she said, and he immediately shut up. 

"What is it?", he asked, looking at her. 

"The sun is setting….", she breathed. And she heard him laugh a little beside her. "Severus, allow me to enjoy it…you go so long without seeing it- you learn to appreciate the littlest things in life…", she said in a hushed whisper, still looking at the glowing ball of heat fall behind the mountains on the horizon of the far end of the lake. 

Snape just looked at her, sitting just inches from him. How many nights had he dreamed of this? How many hours passed where all he thought about was what it would be like to hold her again? The orange glow from the atmosphere settled on her skin, making her glow in sunburst colors. Her hands in her lap, and eyes fixed on the horizon, she breathed in slowly, taking in the masterpiece that was the sunset. He looked to the horizon in time to see the last bit of the sun hide behind the mountains, and the night incased them. 

"Severus…", she started, and he turned back to her. Still fixed on the horizon, she asked the question he wanted to hear for the longest time: "Can I sleep with you tonight?", her face turned to meet his, and she questioned him with her eyes. 

"If you feel like it…you are more than welcome…", he said softly, and she closed the space in between them on the bench. Wrapping her arms around him, she sighed.

"I'm sorry, Helena…for everything…", he said through the electricity that was running from her touch into his skin. It felt awkward, it felt like they were on that first date, and one had made the move. "I never meant any of this for you…", he sighed into her hair, wrapping his arms around her. She was getting stronger, getting thicker, becoming healthier as the days passed. 

"I know you didn't…come on, Severus…can we eat in your room tonight? I don't believe I can stand another night of awkward glares from everyone….", Helena whispered into his shoulder. 

"Yes…yes we can. Anything…anything for you…", Snape answered back, letting go of her, even though he just wanted to stay that way forever, and giving him her hand to help her off the bench. 

"God…Severus…the stars. Look at them. They are always there, every night, through the clouds, through the rain. I remember…I would wait for the night, just to see them; I had a very small window in the top of the cell. And every night- I could see them…", Helena dreamily stated this, and reached deeper into Snape's hand, interlocking her fingers with his, and not showing intention of letting go. "Sometimes, I wait- I wait for it to be a dream…", she breathed. 

They reached the front door. "Isn't that what life is?", asked Snape, "Nothing but a dream? We wait in our moments of pain to wake up to a life of good, and in moments of ecstasy, we wait to wake up in the reality of Hell?". 

"Yes, that's all life is…", Helena said as they passed the Dining Hall, the doors were open, and the entire castle within. Helena turned away, but Snape looked on. He caught Dumbledore's eye, and with an increased twinkle, the Headmaster knew, nodding his head, and continuing on. 

Walking to the Dungeons in silence, Snape remembered the past, when she was still a student, greeting him at midnight in Ravenclaw robes, and now she was attached to his arm, as he opened the door to his rooms for her, and they walked in. McGonagall, God bless her, had taken her shopping, bough her new robes, tonight she was wearing a deep purple set, but it covered her entirely. Snape could only guess at the scars that traveled her body now. 

They sat down at a medium sized table, and he ordered plates from the kitchens. Helena looked around the room, remembering the memories, looking around, as if she had seen this place in a far away dream, and now mesmerized at actually being here. She ate little, as did he, neither felt like eating mass quantities of food. After the dishes cleared away, a moment of uncomfortable ness landed across them. Fear of the unknown, they would be sleeping in the same room, if not the same bed. The last time they did that was years ago, they were completely different people. 

Helena looked to Snape from the other side of the table. "Severus,", she started. And he looked deeper to her. She took in a breath, "Severus…please, please know I still loved you, through out it all…", a degree of pleading in her voice, she looked at him through misty eyes. "And I still do…the times…times when I was…taken advantage of…I used to pretend it was you. It helped, it helped for a long time…until I had no more hope left in me to even care…", tears fell down her face, and Snape gripped the sides of the table, looking at her, waiting for the invitation for him to react. 

"Why…answer me…please, truthfully. Why, why did you leave me there?", she whispered, so low he had to strain to hear it. 

He took in a deep breath, and thought through the thoughts in his mind for the answer. Minutes passed, and it came to him. He looked down, ashamed of what he was going to say, and let it come. "I was afraid. I knew they had killed you, or caused you so much pain…you would no longer be yourself. I was afraid to face you, to face them. I didn't want to somehow survive, only to find myself too late, and you tortured to the point of death. Helena,", he looked up at her, "I wanted to save you. I really did…but I just couldn't bear to face the point where you might be dead. I was afraid they erased your memory, and when you saw me, you wouldn't know who I was. Oh, God. Helena- if I could take it all back…it's all my fault…", he looked down again, not wanting her to see the tears scrolling down his cheeks. 

Silence…that painful enemy that seemed to have moved into the life of these two. Then there was the sound of a chair moving, and the sound of fabric rustling, and Snape found his wife by his side, on her knees, hands around his arm. 

"I never meant any of this for you when I fell in love with you…", he said, looking her in her eyes, running his fingers of his free hand through her hair. "All I ever wanted was you…no one else…Helena…I never loved anyone as much as I loved you…", he felt the arms around his tighten.

"Tell me…tell me you love me- I need to hear it…", she said, looking into his eyes. "Tell me it's all going to be okay…".

And he fell to his knees, and gathered her up in his arms. Looking her in her eyes, he said to her, "I love you, Helena. More than anything in this world. It's going to be alright…Voldemort is gone, and I'll kill before you ever have to sacrifice yourself for the sins you never committed.", tears running down her face, he touched her face with his hands, looking at her, drinking her in. "And because you went through all that, for me. And because you survived it all…that makes you the best wife that anyone could ever have…".

It was too much; she collapsed in his arms, sobbing hysterically. "I love you…", they both whispered, and he did twice as much, running his hands down her body and through her hair, feeling every scar that she paid his price for. The Death Eaters captured her because they knew it would kill him to see her in pain, and it worked, but if they could see them now, even through their tears, they were as happy as ever. And for a moment, it felt as if the last nineteen years never happened…and they were just together again, at last. 


End file.
